Windsor's Holden House Is the City's Last Vestige of Punk Rock

It can be hard to see a punk band in Windsor, Ontario. The auto industry going belly up screwed Windsor harder than anywhere else in Canada, and the bleating economy hit everyone hard, including the hardcore scene. Venues have been shut down, and the few that remain have added increasingly austere safety precautions. You can't mosh. You can't jump around. Basically, there’s no place in Windsor for crusty punks to act like crusty punks.

Holden House started in the Fall of 2010, when a group of punks got sick and tired of having no place to play music. The solution was simple: they would rent a house and put on their own shows. The imaginatively named Holden House is on Holden street, an industrial area of the city. It's the perfect location to put on shows since there only a few neighbouring homes, and during the day the area is buzzing with factory noise. Following the the first show at Holden House, dozens of other events have come alive up and down Holden street, the windows oozing with hardcore punk rock.

Windsor's suffering punk scene has mirrored Windsor’s overall decline as a city. Dead suburbia, empty factories and abandoned buildings have become increasingly common over the past decade, earning Windsor the unique distinction of being one of the few Canadian cities to shrink since the last census. People with jobs live in fear of layoffs, but remain hopeful for an economic turn around. Holden House, while unfortunately not able to help a sluggish economy, did give the hardcore community in Windsor a shot in the arm it desperately needed.

Full of Hell from Pennsylvania, Vistages from Washington, Wrong Answer from Massachusetts, and dozens of other underground bands from all over North America have played at the Holden House. Every show at Holden House also has a heavy local flavour where bands from Windsor and Southern Ontario are always featured to promote their community. The guys who run Holden House estimate that as many as 20 bands have formed at the house, which proves the level of inspiration this place has provided for locals. Holden House has also functioned as a jam space for just about anyone who wanted to use it, allowing new bands to gel and work on their chemistry. The Windsor hardcore scene had seemingly been brought back from the dead.

Structural issues with the Holden House’s maintenance in 2012 forced the entire operation to move to a new location on Digby street. The yet again imaginatively named Digby House had a successful run until spring 2013, when shows at Holden House resumed.

Unfortunately, this rock utopia has had some problems from the beginning. The classic punk villain known as “the cops,” look to shut down the house party whenever possible. And as Holden House’s popularity grew higher, so did its infamy with the local authorities.

Holden House faces an uncertain future with the last show taking place on February 1st 2014, and no new shows being announced yet. The police have been turned away at the door numerous times, but the growing popularity of Holden House has only caused further pressure from the Windsor PD. The landlord of Holden House has been contacted, and the police have threatened to raid individual shows. This is obviously undesirable for people at the shows.

We spoke to Matt Menard, who currently lives at Holden House. Matt, Steve Istl, and Dustin Bondy's Band, Suppressulant, has been a regular fixture at Holden House shows since its inception.

Noisey: How many people does Holden Hose usually get at a show?
Matt: I guess it all depends on the bands that are coming through. Sometimes we'll have an all local show and it's pretty low key. It's usually anywhere between 50 and 150 people. It can be pretty packed when we get big bands that come through, like Full of Hell and Wrong Answer, both of those shows were pretty packed.

Where do most of the bands come from?
When it started it was local and Detroit. But word has spread over the years and we've have bands from all over Canada and some parts of America have played. Out of Time, from St. Louis, played here once, I think that's as far in America as it goes. Dead Church from Detroit has played, Bands from BC and PEI, shit like that, all over the place.

Do you guys make money when you put on these shows?
No, actually. The shows are strictly pay what you can, donations encouraged. There's a sort of suggested 5 dollar donation. Every penny goes to travelling or touring bands. We don't keep any of it.

What's going on with the Windsor Police?
Basically the cops have come around since day one. The house is located in kind of a shitty industrial area of Windsor, so there's not much around it. So, I guess, just by look the cops see, and then to see a bunch of kids there partying, they automatically think the worst. But in reality it's no different than any other party. It's always good vibes. I don't think there's ever even been a fight. The cops just see that and want to shut it down. They don't really know why or whats going but they were trying to shut it down. They got a hold of the land lord. They made a bunch of threats an accusations that they were going to raid a show. We can't have that happening, because some people could get arrested. But, for the most part it's all good vibes. Everyone is there for a reason which is the music. Before Holden, There wasn’t really much in the city as far as venues and DIY places, and every one is just sick of the bar.

Are there many places in Windsor to go see hardcore or punk shows?
There's the Coach and Horses, which is the longest running hardcore place in Windsor, but awhile ago they put up these no moshing polices and all the bouncers were like vultures swarming around the pit. As soon as there was any movement at all they'd start kicking kids out. People got sick of that. So they stopped having shows there. Once the house started out it became a common ground for everybody to come and let loose. The house started in 2010 and there's been like 20 bands come out of it.

What are the crowds at Holden House usually like?
I would say 18 and up. It's definitely a lot of the younger kids coming out. That's another good thing about Holden House, it's all ages. There are no restrictions. There are younger kids that want to see punk rock or hardcore, and they can't go to the bars. But it's usually 18 and up.

Are there ever younger kids?
Yeah it happens. We just tell them to take it easy, because if the cops ever came that would be an issue. We treat it like a public event. We put flyers out, everyone’s welcome, it's always all ages.

Why did you guys start Holden House?
Windsor was going through a dead period. There was not much going on, we couldn’t play at any of the venues and there wasn’t much happening. So Steve Istl decided to rent the house, the area is perfect, there isn’t anything around it. Basically we were fed up. So we started our own band Surppresulant, and started shows up.

How much do you think the Windsor scene has benefited from Holden House?
I think Its been a great deal for the city, for the DIY underground punk scene anyway, it's done a ton. New kids, new faces, new bands came up. It kind of reignited the flame. I have an entire list of bands that started just due to the house shows. We were fed up, and now we're just trying to keep it going. We're laying low on shows right now because we don't want it to have to stop, but if it does it was a good time.

The whole thing is just so punk.
Pretty much the same old story. We're just trying to do something good, you know? They don't see it that way. When they come by the house they see a bunch of kids partying, bands playing, so they basically say, “Well, what the fuck? We can't just let this happen”. They just assume a bunch of shit is going on in there when, in reality, there's nothing different than a regular party. And aside from the partying and stuff the music is the most important. So we're trying to figure it out. We have to come back with a more strict, clean attitude. No drinking, no underage kids, whatever it is the music is worth it.

As much as the cops want to shut it down, we're only trying to good for Windsor. They may not see it that way, because who gives a shit about some underground punk scene? But to a lot of the kids it's important.

Erik McLaren is a writer from Windsor, now in Toronto. You have to tell him if you're a cop, it's like, the law.